Sharing Thoughts
by MZephyr
Summary: RanmaxAkane. Yet another story involving Amazon potions, which does not turn out the way that the perpetrator intends.


**Sharing Thoughts  
By M. Zephyr**

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. This story was written for non-commercial purposes only.

Ranma x Akane. Yet another story involving Amazon potions, which does not turn out the way that the perpetrator intends. Yeah, it's been done before, more or less. But not by me.

Warning: plenty of erotic thoughts, and some profanity.

* * *

There was a 'Closed' sign in the window of the Nekohanten. The café's owner, the old Chinese woman known as Cologne, had been gone the entire day, having taken up battle against bureaucrats to get their visas extended. Her great-granddaughter Shampoo had no doubt that her elder would be successful. The old woman had never met a foe whom she hadn't been able to defeat in the end. It was only a matter of time.

In the kitchen of the Nekohanten, Shampoo was taking advantage of the closed café and her grandmother's absence, to advance her own battle. She had just finished making up a large batch of delicious ramen, and was transferring a portion of the contents to three bowls sitting in an open box. Mousse and her great-grandmother could have the rest later, for their dinners.

Cologne was teaching her heir more than just the martial arts. She was also educating Shampoo in the lore of the Joketsuzoku. Earlier in the afternoon, the Chinese girl had used that knowledge to prepare three small vials, each filled with its own special mixture. Now, humming happily to herself, she picked up the first of these bottles and poured the contents into two of the bowls, stirring it in. She then put lids on those bowls. There were three wrapped sets of chopsticks set out as well, two pairs together and one placed a little apart from the others. Shampoo picked up the two pairs which were together and carefully laid one on top of each of the lids.

She then poured the liquid in the second bottle into the third bowl, and stirred again. Placing a lid on this bowl, she laid the last set of chopsticks atop this lid also. It would take a careful eye to notice that these chopsticks had small spots of white paint on their ends. Finally, she lifted the third bottle to her mouth and drank the contents, making a face at the taste. Luckily, the other two potions did not taste bad. Looking at the bowls again, Shampoo realized she had forgotten something. Grinning happily at the thought of her handiwork, the girl went off to get some transparent tape to affix the chopsticks to the lids of the bowls.

While she was out of the room, the other employee of the café and would-be suitor to Shampoo, Mousse, wandered in. He was not wearing his glasses, as usual. He smelled the ramen and ladled some out of the pot for himself, then turned to find some chopsticks. As the boy did so, he bumped into the table. Hearing a clattering noise, Mousse fished around for his glasses and settled them on his nose. He saw the box carrying the three bowls of ramen, and the three pairs of chopsticks scattered around the table. He guessed that the chopsticks must have been lying on the bowls because there was nothing else around which he might have knocked down to explain the sound he had heard. The Chinese boy shrugged, then picked them up and replaced them on the bowls. Convinced that no one would ever know about his clumsiness, Mousse left the room, taking his own bowl of ramen upstairs to eat while he watched television.

Shampoo came back into the kitchen with a skip in her step, and carefully taped the chopsticks to the lids. Now there would be no chance of her mixing them up. She closed the box and took it outside to her bicycle, where she secured it carefully in the bicycle's basket. The girl then mounted the bicycle and rode off quickly, heading for the Tendo home.

Upon reaching her destination, Shampoo parked her bicycle by the wall and carefully carried the box of food in through the gate and up to the door of the house. "Nihao, Airen!" she called out. She heard two groans, one resigned and the other angry. Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo stepped into view.

"Shampoo, what are you doing at my house?" Akane demanded, without preliminaries.

"Shampoo hear that airen and violent-girl alone tonight. Not want airen eat bad food and get sick. So bring dinner." She held the box out in demonstration.

"Do you honestly think that we're going to trust any food that you prepared?" Akane asked, scowling at the implied insult concerning her cooking.

"You not want eat, you no have to," Shampoo replied equably with a shrug. "Three bowls of ramen in box, all same. You pick one you want, then Ranma. Shampoo take one that left. Shampoo eat first."

Ranma rubbed his chin thoughtfully, weighing the risk against the danger of eating something prepared by Akane. Smiling, he said, "Sounds good to me."

Akane gave him a look of displeasure, then sighed. Although she wouldn't admit it out loud, she hadn't been looking forward to her own cooking that night, either. Besides, given Shampoo's suggestion, it ought to be safe enough. "Okay, I guess. Come on in."

Akane led the way to the family room where the three teenagers knelt around the table, on which cups of tea had already been placed. Snapping her fingers, Akane stood again, then returned with another cup of tea for the Chinese girl. After taking her tea, Shampoo held the box out toward Akane, offering. With a calculating look, Akane reached across and picked up the bowl furthest from her. If one looked closely, one would see that the chopsticks taped onto the lid of the bowl had white spots on the end. ‹Too, too easy,› thought Shampoo to herself, disguising her satisfaction only with difficulty.

Ranma's hand moved back and forth over the two remaining bowls, muttering to himself, then shrugged and picked one at random. Shampoo took the remaining bowl for herself, and began eating. After watching for several seconds to make sure that she really was swallowing, both Akane and Ranma dug in as well. As usual, the Nekohanten's ramen was quite tasty.

It wasn't long before the simple meal was finished, and Ranma was left with a look on his face which suggested to both girls that he could have happily consumed several more bowlfuls. Shampoo pulled her attention from him to Akane's face. The potion in the other girl's bowl should hit first, and Shampoo wanted to see when it happened. Once it did, Akane would develop a deep dislike for the first male she saw, which naturally would be Ranma, and there was no antidote either. The potion in the bowls Shampoo and Ranma had eaten would allow the two people to communicate via thought, for about two days, except that the extra potion Shampoo had drunk would prevent her thoughts from reaching Ranma. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ranma truly loved her underneath, but was just too shy to admit it. The Amazon girl was looking forward to hearing him think this to her, even if he didn't know that she was hearing his innermost thoughts.

What was taking so long? The current polite conversation wouldn't last, and soon they would ask her to leave. Shampoo drummed her fingers on the tabletop impatiently. ‹Why isn't Akane already glaring at him?› Shampoo wondered to herself. ‹The way she normally acts, it shouldn't take much to make her express her new feelings toward that stupid boy. I mean, look at him, sitting there as if he were a heaven-sent gift to women. What could Akane possibly see in him, anyway? He's rude, obnoxious, insulting; all of the worst traits of any male, rolled into one package.›

"Um, Shampoo, why are you looking at me like that?" Ranma inquired tentatively. It was a good question. She was glaring at him as if she wanted her eyes to burn holes through his body.

Shampoo looked down at the bowl from which she had eaten her ramen. She picked up her chopsticks and examined them. No paint. She looked over at Akane's chopsticks. She could see the white paint easily. ‹How did they get mixed up?› She shrugged internally. ‹No matter. Thank heaven they did. I wouldn't be able to stand having his thoughts in my head. Yech.› Her mouth curled up evilly at the thought of Akane Tendo having to put up with that jerk's thoughts for the next couple of days. She gathered up the bowls and lids, and put them back into the box.

"What _is_ going on Shampoo?" Akane asked. She also had not missed the expressions passing across the Chinese girl's face.

Shampoo looked at both of them, sneering. "You both are too, too foolish, eating food enemy brings. Of course Shampoo put potion in bowls. Violent-girl supposed to get one potion, Shampoo took antidote for other. Bowls were mixed up somehow. Shampoo get potion to dislike first male she see. Not that it necessary. Ranma is disgusting little boy, thought of marry him make skin crawl." She shuddered at the thought.

Akane and Ranma were both staring at her wide-eyed. Akane found her voice first. "Then, uh, what potion did Ranma and I eat?" There was more than a trace of fear in her voice, expecting to hear that it would force the two of them to love one another or, maybe worse, that it was some sort of aphrodisiac.

Shampoo smiled malevolently at her one-time rival. "You two soon start hearing each other's thoughts. Not everything, but most things. Stronger thoughts most easily. Wear off after two days. Pity it not longer. Nice revenge that you forced to hear thoughts of idiot boy." Laughing, she picked up the box and left the house, while Akane and Ranma sat and stared at one another in horror.

Finally Ranma bounced to his feet and ran out the front door. He caught up with the Amazon just outside of the gate, climbing onto her bicycle. "Wait, Shampoo! Is there an antidote? Please tell me that there's an antidote!"

Shampoo laughed in his face, highly amused. "No, no antidote. No need for antidote. Told you once, stupid male, wear off in two days. Shampoo go now. When great-grandmother get back, Shampoo tell her want to go home. Rather face punishment than be married to ... _you_!"

Troubled by the venom in her voice, Ranma watched Shampoo ride off. Then, head hanging despondently and figuring he might as well go face the music, he stepped back into the house. Finding Akane cleaning up the rest of their dinner, he picked up a cloth to dry the teacups she had washed, while telling her what Shampoo had told him. "There's no antidote. We're going to have to tough it out. Somehow. For two whole days."

"Unless she was lying for some reason," Akane said. "It might be another one of her tricks, you know. To make trouble."

Ranma considered the idea then reluctantly shook his head. "I don't think so. If she was lying, then we'll know shortly, so what's the point? Besides, the things that she said to me ... I would swear that she ... that she hated me." His voice had a note of complete and utter bewilderment that anyone could dislike him at all.

Akane grimaced, then sighed. "Well, if it is true, then at least one good thing might come out of this. Shampoo might finally leave, if she really can't stand the sight of you anymore."

"Hey! You don't have to put it like that!" Ranma protested. Then he nodded, reluctantly agreeing. "Yeah, she said as much outside. I guess that would be nice, provided that I live to enjoy it."

Akane echoed his words, mocking him. "'Would be nice?' You mean you aren't sure? 'Provided you live?' Are you planning to pine away with longing if that Chinese hussy isn't hanging around you all the time in her skimpy little outfits?"

Ranma stared at the girl. "What? _No_! That's not what I meant at all. I mean ... I ain't looking forward to what you're likely to do to me when this starts."

Akane gave him a troubled look. "Are your thoughts about me so terrible, then?"

Ranma stared at her blankly for a moment, then shook his head and waved his hands. "No, no! That ain't what I meant. I just, uh ... are you sure you want me to say what I'm worried about?"

When Akane nodded, Ranma sighed and went on, warning her first. "Okay, but you asked. And the only reason I'm saying this is that in a minute you're going to know anyway. I'm already starting to hear a sorta murmur in the back of my head, and I can tell somehow that it's you."

Akane's eyes unfocused, and she said, "Yeah, I'm hearing it too." Ranma winced slightly at her confirmation that this wasn't just his imagination. Apparently, he had been holding to the hope that it wasn't true after all.

Ranma's hands were twisting the towel he held, and he couldn't bring himself to look at the girl beside him. "Yeah, so, the reason I'm worried about you hearing what's inside my head is ... well ..."

Akane interrupted him, speaking loudly and quickly, wanting to get the words said before he did and they hurt all the more for being in his voice. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You think I'm uncute and violent and mean and a horrible tomboy and you can't stand the sight of me. I know all of that already. Let's face it, Ranma, you aren't exactly a genius at hiding what you're thinking at the best of times."

"Well that shows what _you_ know," he shot back heatedly. "I can _too_ hide what I'm thinking. Usually."

"Oh?"

"Yeah! The truth is ... I, uh, do like you. I hate the way our fathers keep trying to force us to marry, and that makes me act like a jerk a lot and deny how I really feel. Really, I, uh ..." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I think you're pretty cute. Not uncute at all."

Akane blinked. Slowly, as though she wasn't aware of it, a small smile curved the edges of her lips. "So why would you be worried about my hearing you think that?"

Ranma was forced to look at her, wondering that she didn't get it and thinking that she was having him on again. Seeing that she was serious, he looked away again, blushing. "Because even if I seem to think about nothing but martial arts, that's not true. I'm still a seventeen year old guy. So, well ... you know. There are a lot of things that I can't help thinking about. Especially when I'm looking at you." Mumbling, feeling miserable, he added, "I guess I really am the pervert you think I am."

"Oh." The reply was whispered, and Akane's cheeks turned red as she looked away from him. "And you're afraid that I'm going to yell at you, and bash you for thinking those things?"

"Well, yeah." Ranma shrugged. That was obvious, at least to him. He noticed that the sounds at the back of his head were getting louder, the words not quite discernable yet.

Feeling horribly embarrassed, Akane looked down at her feet. "I don't think you need to worry about that too much," she told him, almost whispering. "I ... ah ... well, that is, I haven't been exactly honest with you, either." Suddenly, unexpectedly, she looked up, her blazing eyes piercing him in accusation. "I thought you didn't like me!" she exclaimed angrily. "So what did you expect me to do?"

"Huh?"

"Since you didn't like me, I thought, I wasn't going to let you think that I liked you," she said, plowing on. But he still didn't understand. In exasperation, she spelled it out. "Don't you understand, you baka? I do like you. And I ... think about those sorts of things too. About you." Studying her feet intently, she added, "So ... I can't hit you for thinking those things, when you're going to be hearing the same sort of thoughts from me at the same time. Well, I guess I could, but it wouldn't be very fair."

‹Fair never seemed to matter very much in the past,› Ranma thought.

"I heard that!" Akane told him emphatically, then stopped, startled by the sound of her own voice. She realized that what she had 'heard' Ranma say had not been spoken. Quietly, she said, "I, uh, guess it's starting."

"Oh boy," Ranma groaned in resignation, trying hard to focus his thoughts on martial arts techniques. He was only too well aware that he wasn't going to be able to keep that up for forty-eight hours.

"Maybe we should try working on our homework," Akane suggested. ‹Yeah, alone in my room together. Good idea.›

Ranma looked over at her, surprised by the unvoiced comment despite what they'd been saying. ‹By ourselves in her room? Damn, that sounds promising.› He shook his head violently, knowing from her look that she heard the thought, then cleared his throat, and responded, "Yeah, concentrating hard on something like homework sounds like a good idea right now." ‹Might keep something else from getting hard. Eep! Stop thinking!›

He was unprepared for Akane's giggle as he put the towel down and they turned to leave the kitchen. He'd been expecting to get hit for allowing such a thought to be overheard by her. Then he was staggered by her return thought. ‹Yeah, it would be nice to see it hard. Eep! Bad Akane!›

"Oh, man, we are in _so_ much trouble," Ranma declared in a voice of doom. Akane nodded wordlessly, and started reciting the verses of a song in her head, in an attempt to occupy her thoughts.

* * *

Ranma took his cue from Akane, and over the next hour they managed to keep their thoughts fixed on music and geometry, a rather odd mixture. The occasional stray thought was also thrown in as well, such as when a word problem reminded Ranma of the hentai manga his friend Hiroshi had shown him during lunch. He knew that Akane had caught the thought by the surprised snort she made. He cringed, waiting for the blow to fall, but instead his eyes bugged out when his thought triggered a memory from her, of a manga Sayuri had shared with her, and something involving tentacles. Blushing hotly, they both focused their attentions firmly back on the textbook.

When Ranma finished solving the problem set, he asked Akane to confirm that he had done them correctly. She leaned over his paper, her short, dark hair swinging slightly under its own weight, and Ranma found himself breathing in its fragrance. ‹She smells so nice. And those shorts! God, she's got beautiful legs. Aack! I'm doing it again! Uh, la la _la_ la ... how does that go again? Aw hell, I'm not going to be able to go two whole days without thinking about how much I love her. Oh ... crap ... now I've done it.›

Akane had turned to stare at him, her eyes impossibly wide, her mouth hanging open. Her voice came from far away, "Ranma, you do? Do you really? You love me?"

Even before she had finished speaking, Ranma was looking around frantically, making quieting gestures with both hands while hissing, "Shush. Shush. Shush. What if our parents hear you?"

Suddenly aware of the danger, Akane clapped both hands over her mouth. Ranma quickly stood and went to the door, cracking it open to peek outside, then going out into the hallway and listening intently. He came back in looking relieved, and shut the door before nodding to her. "It's okay, we're clear. Looks like nobody else is back yet."

Akane hung her head, releasing the breath she had held while he had gone out to check. "Sorry. I was just so ... surprised to hear that. I didn't think." She looked back up at him, eyes still wide, whispering, "But do you? Really?"

Ranma hung his own head. ‹Oh boy. Well, no point in denying it any longer under the circumstances.› Out loud he told her, "Yeah, I do." Then, as if realizing that his first declaration of love should sound a little more romantic, he smiled and gently repeated what he had thought. "I love you, Akane."

He was flattened as she squealed and threw her arms around him, kissing him soundly. His chair went over, and they fell onto the bed, Ranma on his back and Akane on top of him, still kissing. They were both thinking about the fact that they had finally kissed, and surprised each other with the simultaneous thought of ‹about time,› which ended the kiss with a giggle from Akane and a weak chuckle from Ranma. A moment later a look of surprise entered Akane's eyes, and she rolled off of Ranma. It didn't take Ranma long to figure out what had caused her surprise, either. ‹Guess I didn't manage to keep from getting hard after all. Oh, shit.›

Akane primly climbed off the bed, saying, "Try to control yourself, Ranma." Her thoughts, however, were very different and she blushed hotly as Ranma cocked a knowing eyebrow at her. She sat down beside him, face flaming, and whispered, "Do you really, really love me? Please tell me again."

Ranma smiled, and lifted her chin with a finger, looking her in the eye. "Yes, Akane, I really, really love you." His smile dampened a little, and he gave her a searching look. "And, um, how about you? I mean, do you think that you could ever, you know, care about me?" His voice dropped to a mumble. "I know I'm not much of a prize, 'cause of my curse. Still, for the first time I'm getting the impression that I'm not exactly repugnant to you. So is there any chance ... just ... could you give me some clue how you really feel?"

‹Gods, how can he doubt how I feel about him? How can he _not_ know that I love him, after all this time?› She opened her mouth to answer, then shut her lips again as she realized she had just told him, after all. But then she shook her head, and repeated her answer out loud. "I love you, too, Ranma. I have for a long time now. But I couldn't tell you. I didn't want you to know, because I was afraid that you would laugh at me. You made it pretty clear that there was no chance that _you_ could ever love _me_." She looked into his eyes, happy to have finally said it, as the thought continued on, ‹Sometimes I'd be lying in my bed, thinking about him and that marvelously hot body of his only a short distance away and getting hot and ... Oh God! What am I thinking!› It was amazing that the blush following on this did not cause her to spontaneously burst into flame. Ranma started banging on his head, trying to stop himself from thinking about what she had just said, knowing that she was hearing what he was thinking in turn.

Eventually they got themselves back under control, burying all thoughts, inconvenient or otherwise, under the same song, sung synchronously within their thoughts. Akane wondered aloud, "What was Shampoo thinking of? Why would she have wanted to go through this with you? This is _so_ embarrassing."

Ranma shook his head. "She must truly have thought that I love her. It's a good thing that she mixed up the bowls, or I'd have been a dead man once she heard how I really feel about her. Either that, or she might have been dead, if she had made you hate me like she planned."

Akane shuddered, and sent up a silent prayer to whatever watching spirit had arranged for the bowls to be mixed up. "So, uh, you never loved Shampoo then?"

Ranma gave her an incredulous look. ‹How could she think that? The only reason I never told that psycho bimbo to get lost a long time ago is 'cause I was afraid she might kill Akane if I did. Um ... you're hearing this, aren't you?› Akane nodded her head at the unspoken question at the end. Ranma sighed.

Akane tilted her head. "And, uh, what about Ukyo?"

Ranma looked at her and frowned, then thought deliberately. ‹What is this, twenty questions? Okay, Ukyo is my friend, but that's all. I care about her, a lot, but as a friend, not a potential lover. Not as someone I want to marry. I just don't how to convince her of that.›

‹Maybe I could help,› Akane thought at him in turn. ‹Now that we've told each other that we ... love each other ...› She smiled at him. ‹We can go to her together, and explain that. It will probably hurt her, maybe a lot, but in the long run it's for the best. She'll heal in time, and the sooner it's done, the sooner she'll heal.›

Ranma sighed, shoulders drooping. "I suppose you're right. So as long as you want to ask these sort of questions, how about Ryoga? How do you really feel about him?"

Akane stared at Ranma in shock. ‹Ryoga! He thinks I might be in love with Ryoga?› Remembering that Ranma could hear her thoughts, she continued, ‹Ranma, I'm not in love with Ryoga. He's a nice guy, a friend, and I can't understand why the two of you don't get along, but I'm not in love with him. That's ... I don't know, but the thought just makes me uncomfortable.›

Ranma grunted, thinking about P-chan cuddling up to her in her bed. Realizing what he was doing, he slapped himself hard across the face, and then started desperately singing a song inside of his head, worriedly realizing he wasn't preventing images of the pig from flashing through his mind.

Akane was staring at Ranma, her face a study in confusion. ‹What does my loving Ryoga or not have to do with P-chan sleeping in my bed?› The volume of the song coming from Ranma increased, but she still caught a glimpse of a thought of P-chan going into the furo, and Ryoga coming out. Akane reared back in shock.

‹P-chan? Ryoga? The furo? Oh my God! It's a Jusenkyo curse!› She grabbed Ranma, and started screaming at him. "It's a Jusenkyo curse, isn't it? Isn't it? Ryoga has a curse that turns him into a pig, and he's been pretending to be my pet! And you knew! Why didn't you tell me?" She started sobbing.

Ranma grabbed both of her arms, falling to his knees on the floor in front of her, although she was looking down rather than at him. "Akane, listen to me, please!" Silently, he went on. ‹After our duel, he followed me to Jusenkyo. I didn't know. After I received my curse I was in a blind rage, and apparently I managed to knock him into one of the pools. So I'm sorta to blame, partly, for him being cursed. When I found out, I made a promise that I'd never tell anyone about his curse. I can't break a promise, I just can't! That would make me just like pop!›

Akane looked up at that. Gathering his courage, Ranma went on. ‹It was the honorable thing to do, or so I thought. But then later on you found him and adopted him as P-chan. The idiot had so little experience with affection that he fell in love with you on the spot. Well, he thought it was love, anyway. I guess that really it was a crush, since he didn't treat you the way you should treat someone you love. I couldn't tell you because of my promise, and you never caught on to the hints I dropped. He wouldn't listen to me when I told him to stop, either, so the only thing I could do was to try to keep him away from you as much as possible.›

"That's why you two were always fighting?" Akane whispered. "That's why you treated P-chan so badly?"

‹Yeah,› Ranma went on with his thoughts, feeling that just thinking these things was less of a breach of his promise than saying them out loud would be. ‹Even before I knew how I felt about you, it made me really angry for him to treat you like that. But you may have noticed that you haven't seen P-chan since the failed wedding? The last time I saw him, he told me that he was spending more time with Akari these days. I think it was his way of letting me know that he's finally given up on you.›

Akane could hear his thoughts, how much it had torn him up not to be able to tell her the truth. How he'd wanted to tell her so that she'd stop defending Ryoga and treat the other boy the way he had deserved. Ranma in turn could hear her pain at this betrayal, and the hurt that Ranma hadn't found a way to let her know the truth. Akane in turn knew that Ranma was picking up those things from her. It was as if the pain and sorrow of the situation washed back and forth between them; in sharing it, it hurt less, and Akane found the strength to see the matter from Ranma's point of view, even if she didn't completely agree with it.

The girl reached out a hand and lay her fingertips against Ranma's cheek. "You ... are ... a ... baka," she told him, punctuating each word with a tap of her forefinger. Then she sighed. "But you're my baka, and I forgive you. I would appreciate it if you would not mention ... Hibiki's name to me in future, at least until he's nothing more than a very distant memory. And if he does show up here again, he is going to regret it!" Ranma nodded his acceptance of this.

"So what do we do next?" Ranma asked her. "I don't think we really need to ask how each other feels about brother and sister Kuno. What about the families? Everybody'll be home soon. Do we tell them what happened? Or keep it to ourselves?"

"I think we try to keep it secret," Akane suggested slowly. "If we're careful, they won't be able to tell. I don't want to have to pretend to fight and argue with you, but I also don't want to give them any ideas about how we feel. You know that daddy and your father would try to force us to marry right away." ‹Not that that would be such a bad thing,› Akane thought, images of a wedding night coming to her mind before she started grimly singing to herself.

In a slightly choking voice, Ranma agreed. "Right. We won't tell anyone. I would like to know you like this for a while, without anyone trying to force us to marry. As for that other thing you thought, I, uh, ... yeah, getting married might not be such a bad thing, if it happens." He decided to change the subject before he said too much. "I wonder whether it's possible to fall asleep while singing to oneself," ‹'cause I sure as hell don't plan to think about what I usually think about in bed before I fall asleep. Ah hell, you heard that, didn't you? What am I saying? Of course you heard that.›

Akane giggled weakly. ‹I do understand Ranma. You might as well know, well, you'd likely find out anyway given the way things are going, but it's probably safe to say we both think about those sorts of things in bed. But please try to avoid it tonight, and I will too. With this ... thing going on, I'm going to have enough trouble falling asleep even without overhearing you thinking such things.›

At that moment they heard the bell, and went out to investigate. On opening the front door, they found Cologne standing there. The old woman did not look happy. She looked the two over, then gave a grumbling sigh.

"My ... _idiot_ ... heir has admitted to me that she has been playing with potions behind my back again. Do I understand that you two are hearing each other's thoughts?" At the two nods, she sighed even more deeply. "I suspect that by now you have both figured out how the other truly feels?" She was answered with two more nods. Grimly she went on, "Between that and the potion Shampoo consumed herself, it would seem that we have little choice but to set you free. Shampoo would rather kill herself now than accept you as her husband, and the potion the fool child took has no antidote. After everything we've been through together, I felt it only right to confirm to you that our 'involvement' in your life is finished. Please try not to gloat, or I just may kill you myself."

Ranma struggled to keep his face serious. "Thank you for coming over and letting us know. Is there anything else you'll tell us about the potion we ate? Shampoo said it wears off after two days? And there is no antidote?"

Cologne scowled. "In answer to the last two questions, yes and yes. You can overcome the sharing somewhat by singing or reciting poetry, or anything else that fills your thoughts, such as reading a book. You will continue to share thoughts while asleep, so you should expect some ... _intense_ dreams." The elder smirked. "You might wish to take the precaution of some sort of padding to absorb the emissions which are likely to result."

Both teenagers blushed brightly. "I _so_ did not need to hear you tell me that," Ranma complained.

Cologne cackled. "Consider it a small punishment for all of my plans being ruined. I will begin making preparations to sell the café tomorrow. I imagine it won't be long before we are gone. Mousse is quite beside himself with ecstasy, imagining that this somehow means that Shampoo will accept him. Blind as a bat in more ways than one, that boy."

Without further ado, the Amazon elder turned around and left. The two teenagers standing there were left worrying about the dreams which they would have that night, and both were blushing as they overheard the other's worries. ‹It's going to be a _long_ two days,› Akane thought to herself, as she started to sing again.

‹You can say that again,› agreed Ranma.

* * *

Akane's oldest sister Kasumi, and Ranma's mother Nodoka, were the first to return home. They found Ranma in the family room apparently watching television. "Where is Akane?" his mother asked him.

"She's upstairs in her room reading a book," Ranma replied. He did not inform them of just how certain he was of this. As a matter of fact, he wasn't paying any attention to the television at all. Instead, he was 'listening' to Akane read her book. As long as they both focused on the story, they mostly avoided any stray thoughts. Of course, a few side comments did slip through, especially when Akane reached a scene where the hero and heroine were kissing. Ranma choked suddenly at one of her comments, causing Kasumi to give him a puzzled look, as there was nothing but a dog food commercial on the television.

Nabiki came in a short time later, going straight up to her room, and Kasumi decided to retire for the night as well. The fathers were out at some bar, and probably would not return until very late, thoroughly plastered. Nodoka was planning to wait up for her husband's return, to greet him warmly if he was relatively sober, and to greet him otherwise if he had made a fool of himself. Akane and Ranma both decided there was no point in putting off the inevitable, and began readying themselves for bed.

As Ranma lay down in the darkness, he realized in worry that he could discern from Akane's thoughts the removal of each article of her clothing. In defense against the mental strip-tease, he started reviewing martial arts techniques in his head, and past fights he had won. As Akane settled into her own bed, he heard her doing much the same thing in the back of his head. About half an hour passed before both teenagers were forced to admit that they weren't falling asleep like this.

‹Hey, Ranma.› Akane had decided that as long as she couldn't sleep, they might as well 'talk.' After all, for once no one would be able to eavesdrop. ‹When do you think you fell in love with me?›

The boy groaned, rolling his eyes up beneath his closed eyelids. ‹Ain't that just like a girl, to ask a question like that of a guy.›

Disconcertingly, he caught her mental giggle in response. ‹Hey, Ranma, in case you haven't noticed yet ... I am 'just like a girl.'›

‹Huh! Yeah, I've noticed all right. I've noticed ... um, two times two is four. Four times four is sixteen. Sixteen times sixteen is, uh ...›

He had to stop there to try to figure it out. Akane addressed him again, insisting, ‹So, when was it?›

Ranma considered the question, and Akane got an impression of many events from the last couple of years flitting by quickly. ‹That's sort of tough to answer,› he thought at last. ‹I suspect I was a goner the first day, when you smiled at me and asked if I wanted to be friends. Like I told you later, you're really cute when you smile, and I hadn't had very many friends. Of course, I didn't _realize_ it that soon. I was probably able to start admitting to myself that I liked you at Ryugenzawa, especially when we were walking home holding hands. Then that business with the enchanted dogi. When I told you I thought you were cute, and the other stuff, I was really telling the truth, even though you didn't believe me.›

‹But I still didn't admit to myself that I loved you until Jusendo. When I thought you had died ...› Akane _heard_ the grief in his thoughts at that, and found herself fighting back tears. ‹I was screaming at myself for never having told you that I loved you. I was pretty confused later when you said you heard me say that, since I never actually said the words out loud.›

‹Oh, so _that's_ what you meant on the day of the wedding,› Akane thought back at him. ‹You really need to work on choosing your words to get your meaning across, baka.›

‹Heh, yeah,› Ranma snorted mentally. ‹Not that the wedding would have worked out, anyway, with everything else that happened. Now then, how about you? When did you know?›

‹Well, I'm afraid I didn't fall for you as early as you did for me, I was pretty upset that first day. It probably began when you tried to cheer me up after my hair got cut short, and you told me it looked good. That was sweet, and made me think that maybe you weren't as big a jerk as the other boys. Then at the ice skating match, when you told everyone that I was your fiancée, well that touched something deep inside me. There were lots of little incidents after that, each contributing in their own way. Ryugenzawa and Jusendo both affected me a lot like they did you. After all, when we got back, I didn't let daddy talk me into marrying you, excuse me, trying to marry you, just to get you the Nanniichuan water. Of course, I thought they were getting you to agree too, not just knocking you out and stuffing you into a tux.›

‹You ever wish the wedding had succeeded?› Ranma asked her.

He was immediately hit with several thoughts about the two of them alone in a bedroom the night of the wedding, some erotic and some just downright scared. ‹Ignore all of those thoughts you just heard!› Akane shouted at him mentally. ‹Ahem. Well. I suppose it's useless of me right now to deny that _some_ part of me wishes it. But another part of me is terrified, so it's probably for the best. If we ever get married, then we both need to be completely ready for it.›

Ranma considered this, and she heard his agreement. ‹So does that mean you'd like to get married to me some day? I mean, I think I might, some day, not too soon. But maybe not too far in the future, either. As long as you want to as well. Um, so do you?›

‹Ranma, this has to be the strangest way of proposing that I've ever heard of. We're not even in the same room, baka. You could try a more traditional approach. You know, buy a ring, go down on one knee, ask me sweetly, _out loud_.›

She could swear that she heard his mental smirk. ‹'Strange.' That's us all right. 'Strange' is a pretty accurate description of what our lives have been like since we met. So maybe this is the most appropriate way to propose.› He chuckled at her mental growl. ‹Oh, okay. I'll start saving up for a ring, and ask you properly. I don't suppose you'd give me a little reassurance about your answer, though? After all, it's going to take me a while to save enough to buy a ring.›

Akane noticed that she was finally starting to feel sleepy. ‹Of course I'll marry you Ranma. I love you, you dummy. But you don't get the answer out loud until you ask me properly. And my answer's not official until I've said it out loud!›

‹I love you too, Akane.› Ranma was getting sleepy now as well. They made a little more mental small talk for a while, and eventually drifted off to sleep.

Both Akane and Ranma thought they knew what to expect of their dreams that night. While they had avoided discussing it, both had privately come to the conclusion that they were probably going to share a dream about having sex together. Highly embarrassing, and more than a little intriguing, but as long as they avoided talking about it the next day they figured the embarrassment wouldn't kill them.

That was in fact how things started out, with a dream about their eventual wedding, which shifted rapidly to a dream about their wedding night. However, it didn't stop there. Virtually everything that either of them had ever fantasized about eventually worked its way into the dreams, in one form or another, where the thought was then picked up by the other person's mind and sometimes modified in new and interestingly unique ways, all of which was shared. Their dream selves mostly stuck to their actual genders, but there was some stuff involving onna-Ranma, particularly the scene involving Akane and some Instant Nanniichuan. They both awoke at the same time the next morning, the alarm in Akane's room carrying through her thoughts to awaken Ranma as well.

‹Oh ... my ... God!› thought Ranma. ‹I never even heard of _half_ of that stuff.›

In the back of his head, he heard Akane give a resigned chuckle. ‹Guess I won't be able to get away with calling you a pervert any more, huh?› she thought at him. ‹After last night, I'm going to have to admit that I'm at least as bad, if not worse.›

‹Worse, definitely,› proclaimed Ranma, still musing over some of the dream experiences. ‹Not that I'm complaining, mind. Man, I wonder if she'd really let me ... whoa, shut up, shut up, shut up! Forget you heard that!›

Akane chuckled again. ‹Ask me that again after we're married, and we've had a chance to get comfortable with one another. You realize we're going to go through that again this coming night?›

‹Oh, man!› Ranma shuddered, half in fear, half in delight. As he climbed out of his futon, he contemplated the state he was in. ‹Damn. I wish now that I'd taken the old ghoul's advice. What a mess! Aw hell, I wish I hadn't thought that out loud. Uh, 'out loud' didn't make any sense, did it? Oh, well.›

He heard Akane chuckling yet again, but she mercifully made no comment. They went through their morning rituals with some considerable difficulty, as they both kept helplessly flashing back on scenes from their dreams. Both of them kept making abortive comments on these, where they would start to say something to themselves, realize that the other person was listening, and cut the thought short. During breakfast, Nabiki teased them relentlessly over the fact that neither one seemed able to stop blushing.

One interesting event on the way to Furinkan High occurred when Ranma was splashed by the old woman with the ladle, and transformed into a girl. Akane was startled to realize that the thoughts coming from the redhead did not 'sound' any different. After thinking about it for a minute, she realized that she was being silly to have expected otherwise, but she was so accustomed to the change in voice between Ranma's male and female forms that she hadn't been prepared for the _lack_ of change in his mental voice. It was also refreshing, in an odd way, to overhear Ranma's continued hentai thoughts regarding herself, proving once and for all that he really did continue to prefer herself rather than his thoughts turning to other males just because he was outwardly female.

School itself turned out to be a particular torture for Akane. Ranma, of course, was unaccustomed to paying attention to the teacher or the lesson, and so his mind tended to wander (when he wasn't asleep). That day, what his mind mostly wandered to was her. Not even about the odd situation they were in or the dreams they had shared. Just ... her. She was constantly picking up thoughts about her body. Some of these were relatively innocent, such as how nice her legs looked, or how cute her smile was. Others were considerably less innocent, particularly when they included flashbacks to their dreams. Ranma knew that she was hearing these, and tried to control them, but without much success. Part of the problem was that as she overheard these thoughts, she couldn't prevent herself from thinking about them, which Ranma in turn overheard, producing a vicious feedback loop which had them both struggling not to squirm in their seats.

‹Sorry 'bout this, Akane,› Ranma apologized to her mentally. ‹I might like to imagine that I'm in perfect control of my body at all times, but I'm beginning to realize I don't have much control over my thoughts. Telling myself not to think about something just seems to make it more likely that I _will_ think about it.›

‹I know,› Akane replied equally silently. ‹I'm not having any more success than you. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the things I remember from last night. Gods, I hope nobody notices anything.› She was not quite successful at suppressing a small shudder of desire as she caught his recollection of a particularly intense moment when they were dreaming about an elevator which had stopped between floors. ‹Baka! Try a little harder! Please?›

‹Yeah, I'm trying. Maybe I should just try to fall asleep like I usually do.›

It was all Ranma could do not to jerk upright in his seat at her return mental shout, carrying tones of panic. ‹Don't you dare! You idiot! Don't you realize that if you do, you'll start dreaming? If you put me through that here in class in front of everyone, I really will kill you!›

Ranma sent back thoughts colored with chagrin. ‹Um, sorry. Didn't think about that.› Yuka looked at Akane questioningly as the latter gave a deep sigh of mixed relief and annoyance. As the morning progressed, Akane noticed other girls giving her odd looks as well. When the time came for lunch, the couple were ready to call it quits and cut classes for the rest of the day. As Ranma suggested, perhaps a long afternoon workout in the dojo would offer a period of less discomfort. Of course, this would have been even more convincing if it hadn't been accompanied by a thought of Akane wearing a loose gi with no bra underneath.

As they walked out of the school gate, Akane and Ranma saw Ukyo walking along the road some distance ahead of them. They realized that she must be headed to her restaurant to open for lunch. With a quick mental exchange, they changed their plans, deciding that it might be best to try to resolve matters with her now. Having reached this decision, they followed behind the young chef.

Now Ukyo was a martial artist herself, so it did not escape her attention that the pair were back there, but she decided to continue to her restaurant and wait rather than confronting them in the street. Things had been a little tense between Ranma and herself ever since the failed wedding. She had been so sure that he would be thankful to her for stopping it, and she was still sure that he hadn't wanted to go through with it, but he had had a little talk with her afterward about her methods and how 'disappointed' he had been concerning her choice to use explosives. The way Ranma had emphasized the word 'disappointed,' accompanied by the look he had given her, had made Ukyo feel about two centimeters tall. She still hadn't figured out how to restore things to a comfortable state between the two of them, and this made her a little worried about the upcoming discussion it looked like they were going to have.

When Akane and Ranma reached the restaurant door, they found Ukyo there holding it open for them, an opaque look on her face. She motioned them to follow her into the back, where she made them all some tea and then they sat facing one another around a table.

"All right," Ukyo started, her voice heavy. "Since Akane's here as well, I assume you're not here to tell me that you're ready to marry me. So what's this all about?"

Ranma winced, and glanced out of the corner of his eye at Akane. She mentally told him, ‹Think of it as a martial arts challenge, Ranma. You can't back down from the opponent just because you're uneasy about the fight. You have to strengthen your resolve and do what's necessary, even if it will involve some pain in the short term.› Ranma gave a nod, and squared his shoulders.

Ukyo was feeling uneasy, picking up vibes here she didn't care for. Ranma began speaking.

"Last night, Shampoo made another attempt to use some Amazon potions on us. As usual, she messed it up somehow. It seems that she ended up with a potion she had intended for Akane, and now she hates my guts. Apparently there's no cure for it either, so she and Cologne will be returning to China soon."

Ukyo had started grinning at this news. Shampoo was the most physically dangerous of her rivals, and now it seemed that she was no longer a concern. "Well that's good news, Ran-chan."

Ranma nodded, giving her a weak smile. "She also dosed Akane and me with something. Something that's allowed us to open up and be more honest with one another than I ever dreamed was possible. Something that has made it possible for me to tell Akane how I really feel for her, what I have felt for her for a very long time." For the first time since he'd begun, the guilty, hang-dog expression lightened and he took his eyes off Ukyo, looking at Akane who was smiling shyly at him. Ukyo didn't even need his next words to know what he was talking about, it was screaming in the way they held each other's gaze, as though there was no one else in the world but the two of them. "That I love Akane."

Ukyo stared at the two of them in horrified shock. Their obvious happiness was more than she could bear. "No," she whispered. Her voice grew in volume. "You're supposed to marry me. Me! Not her! I'm the cute fiancée. Your father took my dowry! You owe me!"

Ranma shook his head, while Akane looked on sadly and took hold of one of his hands under the table. Even though their hands were out of sight, Ukyo spotted it, and her eyes closed in pain at this additional evidence of their new relationship.

"I'm sorry, Ukyo. But Akane's the one I love and want to be with, not you. I do like you, a lot. But only as a friend."

Ukyo spat, "Don't give me the 'let's be friends' speech. What about all the years I spent chasing after you? What about the yattai?"

Ranma sighed, and rested his forehead against a fist. "Be honest, Ukyo, that wasn't about love. Most of those years were spent planning revenge, not marriage. You didn't decide that you wanted to marry me until after you came here. And either way, it was your decision to pursue me - I didn't encourage it, not really. Although I admit that I was enough of a jerk not to discourage you as hard as I should have, either." He raised his head again and looked at her, eye to eye, just coldly enough that she flinched away. "As for the yattai, how does its cost stack up against the cost for the damages to my mother's house, and the Tendo dojo? If I insisted on a fair accounting, which way do you think the debt would really lie?"

Ukyo tried to ignore this argument, and the need to concede his point. "You're sounding awfully eloquent, all of a sudden. How long have you been preparing this speech?"

Ranma shrugged, not willing to mention that he was getting silent suggestions from Akane. "I haven't rehearsed the speech, although I've been thinking about some of this for a while now. I didn't want to hurt you, though. Still don't, and I wish there were some way not to. But you want something from me that I can't give you, and that means that there's no choice except for you to be disappointed. I never wanted this, but saying that's not going to change anything."

Ukyo's hands balled into fists, and she felt hot tears leaking out of her eyes, no matter how much she tried to hold them back. What she really wanted was to leap across the table and beat both of them bloody, but what would that solve, really? He still wouldn't love her, and she'd have bruised knuckles into the bargain. She wanted to stomp around the room screaming and tearing at her hair, but refused to humiliate herself like that. She wanted this to be a nightmare, and to wake up to find Ranma holding her and telling her that he'd never leave again. She wanted to kill her father and Genma Saotome for putting her life on the course which led to this day.

What she did do was to turn pleading, tear filled eyes on the boy, and ask in a cracking voice, "Ranma, why can't you love me instead? Akane's always so mean to you. We'd be happy together."

Ranma shook his head gently, and she closed her eyes, not wanting to see his sympathy. "I've deserved a lot of what Akane did, and as for the rest, well, you haven't always been on your best behavior either. I don't believe that I _would_ be happy in the restaurant business; I think that's just some fantasy of yours if you imagine that for me. But all that aside, we're talking about love. You can't reduce it to columns of numbers, adding up each side and seeing who has the biggest total. I'm not going to try to explain why I love Akane instead of you, I don't think I could. All that I know is that I do."

The tears were coming faster for Ukyo now, and she kept her head down in a futile attempt to hide the fact. "I see," she replied in a broken voice. "If that's the way you feel, then please leave. I don't want you coming around here anymore."

"Ukyo, I ..." Ranma began, only to stop as Akane laid a hand on his arm, and sent a thought to him.

As they stood, Akane said softly. "I'm sorry too, Ukyo. I think I understand how hurt you feel. For a long time, I've been afraid that I would end up watching him leave with you or Shampoo. I know you'd rather not hear kind words from me right now, I wouldn't in your place, so I won't inflict them on you. But I do care. And I'll try to keep Ranma from doing anything stupid which would make it hurt more. Come on, Ranma." Taking his arm, she led him to the door, ignoring his mental protests that he wouldn't do anything else to hurt Ukyo.

They stopped on their way home for some ice cream to calm their nerves, although the person who served them asked some question about school not being out yet. On arriving home, they changed and met out in the dojo as according to their original plan. Luckily, everyone else appeared to be out at the moment, so they didn't have to explain what they were doing home.

While they sparred, Akane realized that she was picking up mental critiques from Ranma about her technique. While she winced at some of those comments, unsoftened by tact, she also paid attention to them and tried to adjust in accordance. For his part, Ranma was trying, and failing, to keep those thoughts to himself. As they continued, the boy came to realize in surprise that Akane was not becoming angry. Annoyed, frustrated, grim, determined, all of those certainly. But not angry.

‹Man, I'd have thought I'd be knocked through the dojo roof by now for some of those thoughts.› Realizing she would hear this, he added. ‹Not that that's a request, or anything.›

Akane paused what she was doing, and wiped some sweat off of her face. ‹You were expecting me to get angry over honest criticism? Granted, I could do without some of the way you're phrasing it, but I would hope that if you were saying it out loud, you would edit some of that. Then again, knowing the way you like to chew on your foot, what you were thinking might be even worse coming out of your mouth.›

Ranma grimaced, acknowledging the hit.

Akane went on, out loud. "Ranma, I'm a martial artist, and I know that there's a lot you could teach me. I know what that means. I can't learn if you don't help me correct my technique. I'm not going to get angry with you over that. What am I always telling you? I _want_ you to take me seriously as a martial artist. What makes me angry is when you try to treat me like a baby."

Ranma stepped over to the wall, and took a drink from a water bottle. ‹I guess ... I never really believed that until now. I was convinced that underneath you really wanted to be treated like a girl, and that you'd be even more upset if I treated you like this.›

‹Watch the cracks about 'like a girl,' baka,› she thought at him sarcastically. ‹You can treat me like a girl, and like a martial artist, at the same time. They're not mutually incompatible, whatever your father thinks. Just treat me the way you'd expect to be treated in the dojo, when you're in your cursed form, and I won't get upset.›

She joined him by the wall, and took a swig from her own water bottle. ‹On the other hand,› she added, ‹I'm willing to admit that I've had enough for today. My arms and legs feel like they're filled with lead, and I'm looking forward to a soak in the furo.›

Giving her a sly look, Ranma asked, "So after everything we did together last night, is there any reason to object to me joining you in the furo?" A moment later he was slammed into the wall by her punch, and then fell to his knees. "Oof. I suppose I deserved that." He grinned up at her. "Glad to know my tomboy fiancée is still in there. You've been a little too calm lately."

Akane was shaking a finger at him. "_You_! ... had better watch your step." However, she couldn't help the corners of her lips turning up as he climbed back to his feet.

Still grinning, unrepentantly, he suggested, "Well, if you object to that, then how about a kiss instead? While we still have a moment of privacy." Shyly, Akane gave him a mental affirmative, and Ranma stepped forward and pressed his lips to hers. It was a lot less forceful than the previous night, but there was just as much passion, and it left them both feeling weak at the knees. Finally, they separated, and they both looked down while hearing the delight in the other's mind. Reluctantly, Akane turned around and left the dojo, to go and bathe.

As Akane sat in the furo, the image of Ranma sitting beside her insisted on presenting itself. ‹Damn you, Ranma, for putting ideas in my head!›

‹I refuse to apologize,› she heard him respond, and she sent back a mental scowl in return. Then she heard his thoughts continue. ‹Aw, what's _she_ doing here. Would you let go of me, Kodachi? Get your hands off, Akane's going to kill me, stop pressing up against me. Damn, she's got a nice pair. Aw, shit, I didn't think that! Her nipples are rock hard. I didn't think that either!›

Ranma began to panic as he heard the volcanic fury erupting in Akane's thoughts, and he increased his attempts to detach the crazed gymnast. With wide eyes, he saw her bring a black rose up to his nose, and as he breathed in the scent he found himself unable to move his arms or legs, or even to speak. Kodachi laughed, and laid him down on a bench outside of the dojo.

"And now, my Ranma-sama, it is time for you and I to kiss!" Kodachi leaned down over him, while Ranma was screaming mentally, trying to move away and helpless to do so.

At that moment, Akane came running up wearing only a thin robe, sticking a little to her still damp skin. It was lucky indeed for Ranma that she could hear his mental despair at not being able to stop Kodachi, since it meant that her anger was focused on the gymnast rather than him. Kodachi had only started to turn around at her approach, when Akane's kick sent her flying over the wall and into the street beyond. She then turned back to her fiancé and placed her hands on her hips, lips pursed thinly.

‹Oh, wow!› Ranma thought to himself, and tried, absolutely uselessly, not to think about how the thin robe was outlining Akane's body, making it completely apparent that she was wearing nothing underneath. Akane blushed furiously as she heard these thoughts.

‹Stop it, baka, or I'll leave you out here!› she warned him. ‹And I'm still mad at you for that bit about how nice Kodachi feels.›

Ranma groaned. ‹Trust me, your chest is much nicer. Cute and perky and the way they poke ... oh hell! I didn't mean to put it that way! It's not fair that I can shove my foot in my mouth when I can't even _move_ my mouth. _Or_ my foot.› He closed his eyes, shutting out the glorious sight she presented, and started singing to himself fiercely. Akane sighed, unsure whether to strangle him or kiss him. She did neither, but instead Ranma felt Akane splash him, turning him female, and then she lifted him in her arms. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Akane had put him down on his futon in his room. He returned to his singing, trying not to think of futons and Akane in the same breath.

Declining to ask out loud, Akane inquired, ‹Do you want me to call Doctor Tofu, or do you just want to wait for it to wear off?›

Ranma took stock of himself, then replied, ‹I seem to be okay other than the fact that I can't move anything. I suppose that I might just as well wait for it to wear off. It should only take an hour or so.›

They both heard the door open downstairs, followed by Nabiki's announcement that she was home. ‹I suppose I'd better go back down and get dressed,› Akane reflected. ‹Might as well explain to Nabiki what happened while I do so. It won't take her long to realize something's up when she doesn't see you. See you later, baka. Let me know if you need anything.›

‹Later, tomboy,› Ranma replied equably, continuing to lie there as if frozen.

After perhaps an hour, Ranma was able to start moving again, and Akane helped him down the stairs to the bathing room. Along the way he got a sympathetic look from Kasumi, who had apparently returned home. His fiancée left him in the changing room, and Ranma managed to get undressed, and dragged himself into the inner room to wash up.

Akane was trying to concentrate on some homework, but her thoughts kept turning to the boy downstairs. ‹Mmm, if I was in there with him right now, I could press up against him and slide my hands ...› She watched in horror as the thought completed itself, resisting all effort on her part to stop it.

She heard Ranma's mental moan, and then the thought, ‹I'm trying to relax in the furo here, Akane, but you're making it kind of hard. In every sense.› Ranma could have sworn that he was able to mentally _hear_ Akane's blush.

As he continued to soak, Ranma sent another thought her way. ‹You know, 'kane, after everything we've shared the last day, including all of these hentai thoughts, I'm not sure I want to wait all that much longer to get married. Much more of this, and I'm going to have a hard time keeping my hands off of you.›

‹Only if you want me to rip your arms off.› Her response was, however, undermined by an accompanying thought of the two of them on the roof, naked, he on top of her.

‹Got a bit of an exhibitionistic streak, eh?› Ranma asked and was answered by a growl.

‹It's only a fantasy, Ranma. It's not something I want to try for real. And Mr. Pot shouldn't call Mrs. Kettle black, or need I remind you about you replaying that bit involving the Instant Nanniichuan in class this morning?›

‹Touché,› Ranma laughed. ‹Not something I want to try for real either.› There was a short silence before his mental voice spoke again. Akane was surprised by how serious he sounded. ‹You know, though. It's not just about the sex. Marriage, I mean. It's a lot more than that. It's about sharing, sharing lives, sharing laughs, sharing burdens and decisions. We are a bit young, I know, and I'm not ready for children ...›

‹I have no interest in being a teenage mother,› Akane put in quickly.

‹Didn't think you would,› Ranma reassured her. ‹Anyway, we've known each other for the better part of two years now, and I don't want to keep my feelings a secret any longer. I want to continue to share things with you, maybe not to the same intensity as the last day, but more than we have previously. I'd like a little more time to get to know you like this, to go out on dates and stuff, but ... how about this coming summer?›

‹You want to get married this summer?› she asked.

There was nervousness in his response. ‹Yeah. If you want to.›

‹Let me think about it. ... Yes. This summer sounds good.› She gave a mental sigh. ‹What about the parents, though? As soon as we reveal we're getting along, they're going to pressure us to marry immediately.›

‹Yeah, I know. I wish there was some way to get rid of pop for a while. We could manage your father if he were by himself.› Ranma let his mind drift for a bit, then sat up straight. ‹Akane ...›

‹Ranma, that's an evil thought! Bwa ha ha ha! But do you think that she'll help?›

Ranma shrugged mental shoulders. ‹Can't hurt to ask. Let me get out of this furo and I'll head over there right now. I suspect she'll be a lot more receptive if I mention the trouble this is likely to cause my pop.›

* * *

Dinner that evening was ramen, a request which Kasumi was only too happy to grant to Akane. Ranma helped out by carrying the bowls in and setting them on the table in front of everyone. Then he knelt beside Akane and they dug in.

‹Did you do it?› Akane asked him.

‹Yep. Slipped it in while I picked the bowls up. Cologne nearly laughed herself sick when I told her who I wanted it for.›

There was a gleam in Akane's eye as she looked across the table at Ranma's parents.

Not long after supper, Akane's father Soun Tendo was playing shogi with Ranma's father, while Nodoka was in the kitchen helping Kasumi to wash up. Nodoka stepped back into the family room and asked, "Did you say something, husband?"

Genma looked up. "Um, no dear. Not a thing." ‹Not anything that I'd want you to hear, anyway, you sword-happy maniac.›

"_What_ did you say?" Nodoka demanded.

"Er, that I hadn't said anything?" Genma was starting to sweat.

"I distinctly heard you call me a 'maniac'." Her voice was frosty enough to drop the temperature in the room.

"I, uh, didn't say that, did I?" Genma asked. He looked pleadingly at Soun.

"Not that I heard," the latter replied, shrugging.

Nodoka's lips thinned as she 'heard' some additional uncomplimentary comments. "Husband, you and I will go upstairs and discuss this in private. _Now_!" She grabbed him by the ear and tugged him after her. Soun and Nabiki stared after the pair, perplexed. Akane and Ranma pretended to concentrate on the television.

‹Looks like the extra potion in your mother's portion is working,› Akane mentioned. ‹It didn't sound like your father was hearing her thoughts.›

‹Yep. I wonder how long it's going to take him to figure out that she's hearing _everything_ he's thinking.› The boy chortled internally, barely avoiding doing so out loud. ‹Not much doubt what he'll do once he does figure it out.›

Akane and Ranma went to their beds, and 'talked' for a little while before letting sleep claim them. They knew that there was no way to avoid what was coming, and had therefore resigned themselves to it. The impact on them the next morning was less intense, as they had known more or less what to expect. On the other hand, after everything they had been exposed to the previous night, their minds were ready to leap back in with both feet, as it were. Consequently, their dreams this night were even more thorough and wide-ranging than those of the night before.

When Ranma woke up and took stock of himself, his first uncontrolled thought was to be glad that he had taken Cologne's advice this night. In the back of his mind, Akane laughed and agreed. Ranma then overheard Akane give a mental sigh, and tell herself that with Ranma listening in, she couldn't dare to do anything to relieve her leftover arousal. Then she realized that, of course, he had overheard _that_ thought. ‹Ranma,› he heard her grim thought, ‹I believe I'm going to have to come to your room and kill you, just for having heard that.›

Ranma gave a mental ‹eep.› He hoped that she was only joking, but wasn't entirely certain. He decided that this was a good morning to take up jogging, and seconds later had pulled on some clothes, exited via the window, and was running down the street.

When onna-Ranma came back in for breakfast, Akane gave him a glare, but her mouth turned up helplessly as she returned her attention to her food. It wasn't every day that his curse was triggered by an awning ripping free of its support and dumping several gallons of accumulated rainwater on his head.

As the red-haired girl joined his fiancée at the table, he turned to his mother and asked, "Hey mom, where's pop this morning? I missed him for our morning workout, and now he's not here at the table."

His mother's voice was grim. "My so-called husband ran away last night, after I discovered several things he did not want me to know. He took off when I threatened to remove that item which makes him a man. He is mistaken to think that he can escape me, however." Her eyes unfocused slightly. "At this moment, he is headed for Kyoto. He will receive an unpleasant surprise when I catch up with him there later today. I'll be leaving right after breakfast."

"Oh ..." Ranma replied, as if this were a surprise. "Well, I'll cheer you on while you make him suffer, but I hope you won't really kill him or anything. He's still my old man, however much of an idiot he may be."

Nodoka sighed. "I shall bear your plea in mind, my son. But I must be going now. I will see you again after I've caught up to the ... to your father." She stood up and left the room, carrying her silk-wrapped katana.

‹Ranma, do you think she really will kill, or maim, him?› Akane asked a little worriedly.

‹Nah. Pop's gonna get a nasty shock when she catches up to him today, and again when she catches up to him the next place after that. But he's a dab hand at getting away. And after two days, Mom won't be able to track him anymore. Of course, _he_ won't know that. He'll stay on the run, expecting her to catch up to him at any time. At least for a good while, anyway.›

Akane smiled again at her food. ‹Well, it looks like your plan worked. Your father should be out of our lives for at least several weeks, before he figures out it's safe to come back.›

Ranma gave her a quick grin while Nabiki was looking the other way. ‹Yep. By the time he gets back, our plans should be pretty firmly in place concerning the date, and what sort of ceremony you want, and so forth. Hopefully with Mom's full support. With a little luck, he won't have any choice but to sit back and accept it.› Hesitating just a little, he resumed. ‹So, uh, how about I take you out somewhere tonight. If you want to. A movie maybe?›

‹That sounds nice, Ranma. We need to start thinking about how to have conversations like this without Nabiki sticking her nose in. Come tonight, we won't be able to do this anymore.›

They both stood up from the table and took their dishes into the kitchen. ‹Only place I can think of is the roof,› Ranma suggested. ‹It's the only place around here I've ever been able to get away from the craziness. And at least after tonight she won't be able to hear me thinking about that idea of hers of the two of us up on the roof ... urgh. I want the privacy of my own head back.›

Akane laughed, startling Kasumi who had just entered the kitchen. ‹You and me both, baka. You and me both. It's been an interesting couple of days, and I'm glad we've managed to get so much closer, but enough is enough.›

* * *

When Akane and Ranma announced that they were going out on a date that night, Kasumi, Nabiki and Soun were all thoroughly shocked (although it was not the worst of the shocks they would receive over the next couple of weeks). Soun's jaw had not remained on the floor for very long, however, and he very quickly suggested that if they were willing to date, then perhaps he should make arrangements for a priest to come by later that week. Akane had firmly crushed this suggestion, and left him weeping disconsolately as she and Ranma walked out to go to the theater.

Sitting in the darkness, watching the movie, the two teenagers became aware that the other's internal voice was starting to fade. Ranma turned to the girl beside him, and caressed her mind with a final thought, ‹I love you, Akane.› He basked in her own barely audible return thought, ‹I love you, too, Ranma.›

They leaned together and kissed, as the last thoughts gently faded out of each other's perceptions, sharing an intimacy with their lips which could no longer be shared inside their minds.

**THE END **

* * *

**Author's note:**

In case you have not yet noticed, my profile page now has a link to a web site where my stories may also be found.


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